


Stay In With Me

by old_enough_to_know_better



Category: Stray Kids (Band)
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Depression, F/M, Isolation, Reader-Insert, Roommates, Self-Indulgent, Soft Seo Changbin, Triggers, but still fluffy, darker than my usual fluff, love for changbin, maybe this is me, mentions of dying, mentions of suicical ideations, not as dark as it sounds, omg they were roommates, sad covid hours, who knows - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-04
Updated: 2020-05-04
Packaged: 2021-03-01 23:28:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,396
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23995273
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/old_enough_to_know_better/pseuds/old_enough_to_know_better
Summary: As forced self-isolation wears you down to your breaking point, your TikToker of a neighbor and his quiet roommate decide that maybe you shouldn't be alone anymore. Who died and left them in charge? It certainly wasn't you.--OR--The fic I write to try and fend off the ever-encroaching depression that consumes my life. Took a surprising (at least to me) turn about halfway through!
Relationships: Lee Felix & Seo Changbin, Seo Changbin/Reader
Comments: 7
Kudos: 39





	Stay In With Me

**Author's Note:**

> Here is a piece of trash from me, a piece of trash!
> 
> In case you haven't read enough reader-inserts, have an un-betaed tiny fic.
> 
> Tayters, if you find this, I am unapologetic.

You were vaguely aware of the door to your apartment creaking open. Perhaps had it been another day, you would have been worried for yourself, but today, it just crossed your mind that if the intruder was going to kill you, you hoped they were a cat person, and would take care of your sweet calico, Twinkie.

“Y/N?” A deep voice called out. Ah, not really an intruder, then. Just Felix from next door. He was a sweet kid, majoring in TikTok and video games at the local university. That wasn’t fair. You knew he worked hard on his schoolwork, he just played equally as hard. Right now, you didn’t care. You were annoyed. What was he doing here? Didn’t he know you were waiting for the sweet embrace of death? It sure was taking its time getting here.

“I’m sorry for just letting myself in, but your mailbox was overflowing, so I just thought I’d bring these in to you, and you’re probably not even here, so I’m just talking to myself, but just in case, I’m just gonna leave them on the table…” You faintly registered his footsteps across the tile of your tiny kitchenette, counting the steps until he turned and, yep. “Oh my god, Y/N! Why didn’t you say anything? You scared me!”

You didn’t get up from your ball on the couch, but you did turn your head to look at him. “What’s the point? What is there to say?”

He blinked a few times. “Are – are you okay, Y/N?” You laughed, short and harsh. His eyes went wide. He obviously was not expecting that.

“Are any of us okay, Felix? How can we be okay? How is anything _okay_?” Felix took a step back, but the floodgates were open, he started this, he needed to ride out this particular wave. Twinkie stretched from her spot by your feet and took a few steps to curl up in your lap. “The world is literally on fucking fire, I’m stuck in this goddamn hellhole of an apartment, I can’t even get a _motherfucking_ Switch, but sure, I’m hunky-dory.” You shot him an aggressive thumbs-up to punctuate just how swell you really were.

Something about the fear in his eyes told you he didn’t believe you. Which was fine. _You_ didn’t believe you. You were most definitely not hunky-dory. “Do, do you need anything?” He wrung his tiny hands together in a way that would be cute if you didn’t currently find everything so annoying.

You groaned. “For Satan to hurry up and pull me down to hell. It literally can’t be worse than this.”

“I can’t do this.” He muttered softly. You exhaled sharply through your nose. Of course he couldn’t. You knew the saying. _‘If you can’t handle me at my worst, I don’t blame you. I’m fucking terrible.’_ Felix wouldn’t be the first person who walked away during a depressive episode. Hell, even a therapist or two had left you high and dry. ‘Wasn’t trying,’ your ass. Well maybe you were finally done trying. You rolled to face away from the platinum boy standing in-between your kitchen and living areas, and started counting down in your head. He would be gone in 3… 2… 1…

“Binnie? I need your help.”

Felix continued to try to make small talk for a few minutes after his phone call to his roommate. After getting nothing but sarcasm and self-deprecation, he gave up and turned his attention to Twinkie. That tricolor traitor had left your lap to receive his love as soon as he sat on the floor. Just further proof that she would be fine if you weren’t around. You knew Felix loved her. She was the reason he had a key after all. Felix was your designated cat-sitter. Twinkie had taken a shine to him the day the two boys had moved in, slipping out of the apartment to wind herself around his legs.

At least you got the satisfaction of the fickle feline leaving him as well when the door opened again, this time to let his roommate in. You briefly contemplated changing your locks before remembering that that was an issue for building management, and that was way more trouble than you were willing to go through. You resigned yourself to your fate as Changbin walked into view with Twinkie snuggled in his arms. You were pretty sure that you could hear her purring from your nest on the couch.

“Bro, you weren’t joking. This is intense.” Changbin greeted his roommate with a fistbump.

You tried to tune out the two of them as they talked about you like you weren’t there. You really wished you weren’t.

“Mate, I gotta get to work, but I couldn’t leave her alone.” You rolled your eyes behind Felix’s back. He certainly could leave you alone. You were a grown-ass woman. But luck was only half on your side, because while Felix did leave, you were not alone. Changbin stayed behind.

He was quieter than this roommate, that was for sure. Where Felix was comprised of random noises and outbursts, Changbin was silent while he sat with you. He didn’t even flinch as you violently repositioned yourself on the couch. You just weren’t able to get comfortable, and having a near-stranger in your apartment was not helping. You were getting more and more frustrated. You snuck a glance over at him, finding him watching something quietly on his phone with a small smile on his face. For some reason, that made you even angrier. You pulled the small cushion from beneath your head and put the throw back into throw pillow.

His small look of shock was almost enough to make you laugh, which startled you. He quickly regained his composure, pocketing his phone and turning his attention to you. “Ready to talk?” He asked, his voice soft.

“Yes and no.”

He nodded, humming. “I get it. Do you mind if I put some music on? The silence is getting to me.” At your shrug, he pulled out his phone again, scrolling through what you assumed to be a music app. “Any preferences?” You shook your head. He hummed again, and something soft and acoustic started playing from the phone’s speakers. “Let me know if you want anything skipped.”

You tilted your head to really take him in. You hadn’t seen him much since he and Felix had moved in, a year or so back, both scrawny boys barely into their adult years. Felix had quickly grown on you with his outgoing personality and fast friendship with Twinkie, but Changbin had been more of a mystery. Seeing him now, you could tell that he’d grown. Gone was the narrow-faced, gangly teenager growing out mom’s last bowl cut. In his place sat a man with full cheeks and sparkling eyes, badly in need of a hair cut and root touch-up on his ashy blonde hair, and with a gym membership sadly on pause. You wondered if all that had happened when you’d been stuck inside your own head.

Changbin cleared his throat. “Is this because of the Switch?”

You blinked. “What?”

He scratched the back of his neck and averted his eyes. “Um, Felix said you were depressed about not getting a Switch. If you want, we—“

“No, this isn’t about a stupid console!” You sat up on the couch finally. Changbin’s eyes met yours. “People everywhere are dying, everything is closed, I’m furloughed from my job, I haven’t been outside in two weeks, I just want to play Animal Crossing, my cat is the only company I have, my plants are dying,” a sob broke though there, “and they’re _succulents!_ Do you know how awful you have to be to kill a succulent? Just straight garbage.” You dug the heel of your hand into the corner of your eye, trying to stem the flow of tears that were finally flowing after so long.

The couch dipped as Changbin sat beside you. He smelled nice. Not exactly fresh out of the shower, but like he had showered within the past day. You definitely could not say the same. You were suddenly aware of the fact that you hadn’t changed out of your pajamas in (at least) three days, and the messy bun that you were sporting was the very same one that you had slept in.

“But you’re still here.” Changbin’s dark eyes pinned yours with the intensity of his gaze. “Shit sucks right now. I know. But can I tell you a secret? It’d be worse without you. Look at this cat. Look at her. She fucking loves you.” You smiled weakly.

He stood up, holding his hands out to you. “Let’s go take a look at those plants. I bet they can be saved.” You groaned as he pulled you off the couch, muscles aching after hours in the same place. You led him over to a plant stand in front of the large window, squinting at the afternoon sunlight. He hummed again, leaning over and examining each small pot on the stand. “I have good news and bad news.”

“Ugh, bad news first.”

He looked you up and down. “The bad news is, you’re basic. Succulents, really?” You threw a weak punch at his shoulder and he laughed. You found that you really liked the sound. “The good news is, you can save them. Give them some water, prune off the dead leaves, they’ll be much happier.”

“You think so?”

“It works for people, too.” You blinked up at him, eyes wide. Fuck, but that was good. And was that a smirk on his face? “Anyways, try it. Take a shower, get dressed, meet me at my apartment in an hour. I’ll have a surprise.” At your look of disdain, he sighed. “Trust me. I’m trying to help. Step one, we clean you up. Water. Two, dead leaves, clothes. Three, we get you out of your apartment. Don’t worry, it’s not my dick in a box or anything.”

You were taken aback, not at the fact that he said that, but at the fact that you perhaps didn’t find the thought completely repulsive. You locked that away to deal with another day.

“Okay, your place in an hour.”

You hated to admit it, but cleaning up helped. You scrubbed your skin until it was pink and stung in spots, but you felt new. Your hair wasn’t hanging in limp strings anymore. You didn’t bother looking cute, choosing an oversized hoodie and jeans. After all, he had seen you at your worst. You skipped makeup altogether. 59 minutes later, you knocked on the apartment next door. Changbin opened it, the grin on his face stretching his cheeks. “Y/N, you actually came! I wasn’t sure if you would!” He stepped aside, sweeping his arm to usher you in.

You had seen glimpses of their apartment before, from Felix’s videos, but this was your first time inside it. It was as you imagined, with a multi-monitor gaming PC in the corner, several game consoles, a huge TV, and even a bookcase full of board games. It was clean, not the chaotic clean of a rush job when you know someone is coming over, but the neutral clean of routine. That surprised you. Maybe these two had their shit together more than you thought.

“Pizza okay?” Changbin asked, and you swore you could already smell it.

“That sounds fantastic. I haven’t actually eaten today.”

He scrunched his nose at you, but replied, “Good, because it’s here. I got half-cheese, half-pepperoni, in case you’re veggie.”

“I’m gonna eat it all.” You answered.

He laughed loudly as he grabbed the waiting box from the doorway. “Not if I do first.”

You watched a nature documentary on Disney+ as you ate, but neither of you paid it much attention. As the box emptied, you asked Changbin if what he saw today bothered him. He shifted uncomfortably in his seat.

“I mean, yeah, it did, but only in the sense that no one should have to go through that. Like, I have a little bit of anxiety, I get panic attacks rarely, but I don’t know, it just shook me up.” He trailed off, looking up at you.

“It happens sometimes. Not for a while, but right now, everything just feels so hopeless. Like, what’s the point? I know we just have to keep pushing through it, but where’s the end? When’s it gonna stop?”

Changbin got up to move the empty pizza box to the trash, gesturing his head for you to sit on the couch. “I don’t have any of the answers. I wish I did. I wish I could make all of this go away. I would do it in a heartbeat.”

He looked away from you. “Listen, I know you’ve had a rough day, and you don’t know me that well, but I’m just gonna go for it. I think you’re amazing, and you’re so strong to deal with what you do and still come out swinging. Like, the way you sent Felix packing earlier? Iconic. Anyways. I’ve wanted to do this for a while, but then shit happened, and there hasn’t been a good time, but I wanted to know if you’d go out with me, only we can’t go out, so…” He finally took a breath here. “I guess, will you stay in with me?”

Your brain was well on its way to short-circuiting when he started his speech, and was fried by the end of it. He… thought… you? But? How? Oh shit! He was waiting for an answer!

“I’m not an easy person to date.”

“I would expect nothing less.”

“No, like, I’m awful.”

“I’m up for a challenge.”

“Don’t say I didn’t warn you.”

“Is that a yes?”

“It might be.”

“Cool.”

Changbin stood up and walked over to the TV. You were confused for just a moment until he came back over with a pink Joy-con. “It’s not Animal Crossing, but do you wanna play some Mario Kart? I’ll even let you win.” He said with a wink.

You scoffed. “Let me _nothing!_ We’ll see who really wins!”

That night, Felix once again walked in to find you sprawled across a couch, eyes unmoving, but this time, you had hope for the future. You had Changbin.

**Author's Note:**

> Well, you made it this far.  
> You might as well leave a kudos at least.
> 
> Wanna chat? Leave a comment, I love them.
> 
> I'm on [twitter](https://twitter.com/minnisoldenough) sometimes, too.
> 
> If you like what you read, please consider my [ko-fi!](https://ko-fi.com/minntee)


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